Will 10-year health plan really make enough of a difference?

THE new NHS 10-year plan has been welcomed by regional health chiefs - but one leadng GP warned he found it “really underwhelming” while experts criticised the failure to ban alcohol advertising.

- SAM VOLPE Health Reporter

The document lays out what the Government says will be a “fundamental rewiring” of the health service that will see, by 2035, the “vast majority” of outpatient care take place away from hospitals, closer to people’s homes.

The plan will see up to 50 new “neighbourhood health centres” launched in by the next election, with more than 200 slated to be set up by 2035.

The idea is to have numerous NHS services located in the same “neighbourhood health centres”, while boost the health service's digital offering and improving the NHS app. There's also an aim to move more care out of hospitals to both community venues and to people’s homes. To do the latter, a national “virtual ward” system will be rolled out.

However, the plan also highlights that there will not be as many NHS staff by 2035 as was envisaged by the previous government's workforce plan for the NHS, published two years ago. Instead, the plan says: “But those staff will be better treated, more motivated, have better training and more scope to develop their careers.”

Speaking in London on Thursday, Sir Keir Starmer acknowledged improvements were needed in the NHS but said the situation was better than when Labour first took power.

Health and Social Care Secretary Wes Streeting highlighted work in the North East and other areas as he told the House of Commons: “We know the change in our plan is possible because it's already happened. We toured the length and breadth of the country and scouted the world for the best examples of reform. If Australia can effectively serve communities living in the Outback, we can surely meet the needs of rural England.

“If community health teams can go door-to-door to prevent illness in Brazil, we can certainly do the same in Bradford. We know that we can build the neighbourhood health service, because teams in Cornwall, Camden, Northumbria, Stratford, are already showing us how to do it.